Never Alone
by mimopoco
Summary: About 2 years later, Spinel continues to struggle with self regulation and self image along with the guilt and shame of her actions after attacking earth. The Diamonds, concerned for her and at a loss of how to help her, they ask for help from a certain hybrid.
1. Vacation

Blue Diamond along with her Pearl approached a large door to the Diamonds conference room. Standing outside was none other than Yellow Pearl and Pink Pearl, indicating that White and Yellow were waiting inside for Blue's presence so they can begin their meeting. "Hello Pearls." Blue waved with a small smile, receiving waves and hellos in return. "Can you three please do me a great favour and look around for Spinel. I'm late for our meeting because I was looking for her. But we need her for the second half of the meeting so if you all could be dears and bring her back here once found that would be incredibly helpful. We're very concerned for her, so please be gentle."

The Pearls had grown a soft spot for Spinel just as the Diamonds did. So once agreed, the three Pearls split up and rushed off looking for their pink friend.

Blue sighed with concern and entered the room. White and Yellow impatiently sat in their respective coloured seats. Blue took a seat in her own. The conference room was now filled with White, Blue and Yellow diamond, leaving a small empty pink seat where a certain missing Diamond, a.k.a Steven, would usually be seated. But he was back on earth and this was a very important matter that needed to be discussed and solved immediately.

"I'm terribly sorry that I'm late. I was unable to find her." Blue explained with a sad tone.

Yellow growled in response, slamming her hands on the large table in front of them. "I just don't understand! I'm nice, I make jokes and I even tried juggling those stupid orbs! She's so depressed. I just dont know what I'm doing wrong!"

"Yellow, please." White Diamond held her hand up silencing the other Diamond.

"I apologize.." Yellow sat back down, crossing her arms in embarrassment. "I just.. I just don't know what to do."

"It's understandable, Yellow." White began, "I too have tried. I even asked Pink Pearl to pry a little since they seem to be the closest. However, it went terribly wrong, and the poor dear ran off crying and warped someplace and was gone for an entire day."

"What could possibly be wrong? We've given her everything she could ask for. Is she just not happy being here? Or maybe we're being too much, perhaps?" Yellow crossed her legs, thinking of the possibilities.

"No, no. I don't believe any of those things are the reason." All eyes were focused on Blue as she spoke. "She speaks to me a lot. Mainly about her racing thoughts and self loathing tendencies... But she never mentioned anything about us being overbearing and disliking her home. However," Blue cleared her throat, fixing her posture. "She's spoken to me alot about the trauma shes experienced. It's rather... difficult to hear sometimes. Since Pink was so important to all of us. Hearing the things she did. And the gems she hurt. Just being reminded if it all. I'm sure you both understand." They both nodded. "Anyway, I think she's still having a hard time. Getting use to everything, making friends, trusting us and getting use to the ways of era 3. It's a process that we all will have to go through with her and we must be patient. She has been through so much." Blue sighed letting a few tears fall, making White and Yellow do the same.

"Blue, would you please continue? I cannot see." Yellow flicked the tears from her eyes and refolded her arms. White followed suit.

"My apologies," Blue halted her tears and continued. "Spinel has also mentioned Steven on several occasions. I don't think she's getting tired of us but I do think that maybe she misses him. It's been roughly two years now. Maybe we should have her take a "vacation" as uh, humans call it."

White and Yellow both raised an eyebrow as if Blue was talking in a foriegn language. "What's a vay-cay-shawn?" Questioned White, earning a small giggle from Blue Diamond.

"Its a vacation." Blue corrected, "Steven explained to me once that it is when someone spends an extended period away from home for recreational purposes."

"Oh!" White and Yellow exclaimed in unison. Both suddenly interested in this "vacation" that they're only just now hearing about.

"Ooh! We should take a vacation to see Steven right away!" White suggested.

"As much as I would love that myself. Based on what Blue has mentioned with young Spinel, I think that would be selfish of us." Yellow countered.

"I agree. Unfortunately this cannot be about us right now. Spinel is now an important part of our family." Added Blue.

White sighed, slightly disappointed. But she knew they were absolutely right. She loved and adored Spinel so much. She wanted to do nothing but spend time with her and her whole family of Diamonds. "Then, we'll send her. If it will put her at ease. I suppose the poor thing needs a break more than the rest of us."

As if on cue, Pink Pearl popped her little head in the doorway with good news. "My Diamonds, we found her."

"Thank you all so much. Please send her in." White responded using her proper manners that Steven once taught to her and the other Diamonds.

The small pink gem entered the conference room, followed by gasps from each Diamond in front of her. Suddenly, fear had filled the gem and her mind began racing once again. Had she done something wrong? Had she said something wrong? Did she forget to do something? Maybe they're going to get rid of her now and send her back to the garden. Or maybe they'll send her out in space to float around for the rest of eternity. It's what she deserved after all. Whining and crying. Being so ungrateful to the Diamonds. They should have just shattered her already-

"Spinel?!" The gem blinked, ripped from her thoughts she made eye contact with the three Diamonds which made Spinel feel like there was a pit in her stomach. "Are you listening?" White Diamond continued, trying to get the pink gem to come out of her mind.

"Ah right! I'm so sorry, My Diamonds." The stretchy gem smiled a fake smile and attempted to form her arms in the tri-diamond shape, however when doing so her physical form began to glitch, shaking Spinel all the way to the core of her gem. Short arms stayed short arms. Well, she definitely wasn't going to do that again. Not that she really had to. She always forgot that the salut was no longer necessary. It was only out of habit.

White continued, "What happened to your gem? Your gem is cracked." Concern flooded the faces of the Diamonds. The fake smile was ripped right off her face now concerned as well. The pink gem immediately looked down and eyes met with a small crack across the front of her gem. She hadn't realised that was there. How could she have actually been so careless? However, she did really try after all... Maybe she should have kept going. Eventually it would've shattered and she wouldn't be standing right here in this predicament.

"I, uh, I guess I must have been playing too hard." Spinel tried to chuckle it off, as for the Diamonds they were still very much worried.

White Diamond began again, "We're concerned for you, Spinel." This is it. "We know you are struggling." They're going to get rid of her. And put her somewhere. Somewhere alone. **ALONE**. 'YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DESERVE IT!' Her mind screamed at her and one of her eyes twitched. She wasn't sure if it was because of her cracked gem or the voices that continued to pester her from inside her own head.

"We just want you to be happy." Yellow finished.

Blue leaned down from her seat, leaving her hand open for the smaller gem to climb on, which she did. "We won't leave you alone. But we want you to reunite with an old friend."

Old friend. The only friend she ever had was Pink. Pink. PINK. PINK DIAMOND. SHE LEFT YOU. THEY'RE ALL GOING TO LEAVE YOU. THEY'RE GOING TO FORGET ALL ABOUT YOU. **LEFT BEHIND. LEFT BEHIND.** **FOREVER**. "NO!" Spinel gasped, a gloved hand flying to her mouth.

All three Diamonds jumped in shock at the sudden outburst. No one knew what to say. Not even Spinel. But it was too quiet. Nobody was saying anything. This iS WHY THEY'RE GOING TO LEAVE YOU.

Spinel took a deep breath, ignoring the voice in her head. "I- I'm so sorry. Please continue, My Diamond."

"Ah, right!" Blue continued, trying to forget what just happened. She didn't want to embarrass the poor gem any further. She just wanted to hug her and make it all go away. Blue pulled out a small framed photo and handed it to Spinel. It was a picture of the only Diamond that was not currently present with them.

"Wha? I don't- I don't understand." The gem gave a confused look to all three Diamonds. Unsure what Steven had to do with what Blue was previously talking about.

"Well, Spinel, we figured you could spend some time with an old friend. So we thought about sending you to earth temporarily to visit him and the rest of his family. Also, he could help with your damaged gem, he's the only one who can. You've mentioned Steven quite often since coming here and even more so recently. You must miss him."

Spinel's light pink cheeks grew to a dark fuchsia. Friend? Was he even a friend? Does that even count? He probably doesn't want her there. Why would any of them want her there? Not after everything terrible that she had done. To the earth, the crystal gems and Steven himself. And to just show up and ask for him to heal her gem. It was laughable. But she did miss him. Sometimes she wished she had stayed. Maybe just to fix their rocky friendship. He was such a strange being and she was so entranced by him. Spinel didn't know any other humans but she had a feeling he was very different from the rest. "Maybe, but I uh, I dunno if that's a good idea." The smaller gem sheepishly chuckled, avoiding eye contact she had somehow been holding almost this whole time. "I don't think he'd want me there. He must be enjoying his happily ever after. I wouldn't wanna ruin it by just showin' up y'know?"

"Here, why don't we give him a call and see what he thinks!" White piped up, eager to speak to Steven. A neatly manicured hand pressed against the table infront of them and a communicator screen shot out of the the table in the blink of an eye. Spinel jumped back, still standing in Blue's large hand. Well, that was new. White pressed only one button and began calling Steven. They waited, and waited and waited. Did he know why they were calling? Did he know the Diamonds were planning on sending her to stay with him? He probably wasn't answering because he didn't want her there. She figured as much.

"Hello? Sorry, sorry, I had to run all the way up here. I accidentally slept in." Sleep wasnt something any of them understood. Steven never really felt it was important to teach the Diamonds any of that. He was a little busy making peace across the universe. He barely had time to sleep let alone explain what it was.

"_Ohh Steveeeeen!_ Finally, you answered. I was beginning to worry that you were upset with us." White pouted.

Blue popped her head in the sight of the communicator so Steven could see her too. "Steven! We must ask you for a favour."

"Spinel is not feeling so well. Also she misses you. So we want to send her on, um, vuh-kai-shon to earth." Yellow added popping her head in the communicator view as well.

"It's vacation." Blue corrected giggling, in which made Steven giggle as well. Spinel blushed at the sound the came from the hybrid. His voice altogether was deeper than the last time she had seen him. Is that how humans worked? They changed voices? Another thing Spinel found interesting about the boy.

"Spinel?" He forgot about you. JUST LIKE SHE FORGOT ABOUT YOU. "Not feeling well? Is she okay? Can I talk to her?" The voices stopped. He actually wanted to talk to her? Not like **_this_**. She just couldnt.

All three Diamonds looked down at the pink gem in Blue's hand. She was incredibly nervous and not okay with talking to him right now. Not in this state. She was a mess. She waved her arms nervously, whispering low enough so the communicator didn't pick up her voice. "I'm not here!" She whisper-yelled.

The Diamonds quickly picked up on what she was doing. "Uh, sorry. She's actually busy right now. Packing her uh, things?" White awkwardly smiled hoping the younger Diamond wouldn't ask anymore questions. Blue and Yellow followed suit with their awkward smiles.

However, Steven knew better. But he didn't press. "Uh, okay. Well I don't mind her coming at all. It would be great to see her! It's been so long. I'd love to see how she's been doing." He'd love to see how BADLY you've been doing. So he can laugh in your face. YOU DESERVE IT. YOU DESERVE TO GET LAUGHED AT. **PATHETIC.**

"I just need to, uh," A yawn interrupted him, followed by some morning tears. The Diamonds were suddenly concerned and Steven noticed it. "Hey, hey it's okay. It's just part of the sleeping thing." He reassured them. "But listen, I just need to tell everyone that she's coming so we can set up a warm welcome back to earth for her. So just give me like an hour or so, okay?" Steven winked and the Diamonds just giggled giving their okay and letting him go.

"See that dear? He's so excited to have you visit! AND we gave him notice." White Diamond exclaimed, excited to give Spinel something she really wanted and needed.

"I'm very grateful, My Diamonds. But are you sure that... I'm ready?"

"I think ready or not, this is something that you deeply have been wanting. Is it not?" Blue questioned with concern.

Fuchsia filled the pink gems cheeks once more. This was such an embarrassing situation. Spinel only nodded in agreement, biting her bottom lip.

Yellow chimed in as well. "We love you Spinel, we just think you need a break from us. And this whole place. We dont want to make you feel trapped or feel like you have to stay here all the time."

"I second that." Added White, "We want you to enjoy yourself dear. You deserve it." That was the first time someone had told Spinel she deserved something good. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "Well, we can't wait for you to get all healed up and have a great time with your friend. We will have to wait for Steven to be ready, so just make sure you are too. We will be waiting at the warp pad in an approximately an hour to see you off."

With that Blue let the smaller gem down and exit the room on her own. Only to meet with the three Pearls who had found her earlier.

"So what happened?" Pink Pearl wondered.

"They're sending me to visit earth."

"Lucky you." Yellow Pearl commented.

"Have fun." Whispered Blue Pearl.

* * *

About an hour later the Diamonds, Pearls and Spinel herself met at the warp pad.

"So um, when am I s'posed to come back?"

"Whenever you feel like it, darling. It's a vacation. You rest, relax and have fun. So just enjoy yourself. There's no rush." White quickly answered in excitement for the young gem.

Spinel nervously stepped on the warp pad. She still couldn't believe this was happening. "Well then, I guess I'll be on my way." A gloved hand formed a peace sign, the other gems said their goodbyes and Spinel was engulfed in a white light. She was going to earth.


	2. Preparations

**A/N - Hi everyone! I'm really glad to see that so many people are liking this story already. I have several chapters planned out for this story so far but I wont be posting for a few days because I'm getting my wisom teeth taken out tomorrow so I'm gonna be focusing on recovering. In the meantime I'd love to see more reviews from you guys and let me know what you think! Anyways, please enjoy the next chapter!**

Steven left the crystal-domed conservatory, running down the wooden stairs to his balcony and through the sliding glass door to his bedroom. "Guys! Guys! Steven yelled excitedly, running down the stairs into the living room.

"Huh? Wha?!" Amethyst jumped awake from her sleeping state. "Ugh. What's the deal, Steve-O? Can't a gem sleep in for once?" The purple gem lazily pushed herself up from the couch. Food crumbs fell off her onto the floor.

" Ew, Amethyst." Steven gave a grossed out look to the other gem, they both just laughed.

"Good morning, Steven!" Pearl called from the kitchen as she continued to wash the plate in her hands.

"Hi Pearl!" Steven returned, "Look guys, I just got done talking to the Diamonds!"

"The Diamonds? We're they begging you to go visit them again?"

"You really should visit them Steven. I'm sure they miss actually seeing you in person rather than on the communicator every time." Pearl lectured.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You're right." Steven was getting distracted by Pearl's comment. "Wait listen, so they told me that Spinel wasn't feeling so good and misses me. So they wanted to send her on a vacation to earth. She'll be staying with us for awhile."

"You mean that angry noodle that tried to destroy the planet?" Amethyst questioned in a joking tone.

The plate Pearl was holding cracked right in half. "Woah! Wait-wait-wait! **What?! **Steven you can't be serious? After everything she did you're really going to-"

"Pearl, I am very serious." Steven cut her off. The older Steven got the more serious he was able to sound. He loved it. "Peridot and Lapis were the same. If they can be forgiven, so can Spinel."

The iridescent gem sighed. She knew he was right and she knew she wouldnt be able to change his mind. Maybe she was just being overprotective after everything. Pearl took a deep breath and sighed. "You're right, Steven, I'm sorry. Have uh, have you told Garnet yet?"

Steven was grateful that Pearl didn't persist. He just wanted them to be able to trust Spinel. "Not yet. Do you know where she is?"

As if on cue, the fusion entered the front door of the beach house. "Good morning, Steven." Garnet smiled at the boy. "Everything will go smoothly. Just be yourself. And as for the rest of us, we need to be supportive and respectful. For Steven AND for Spinel. Okay gems?" Garnet threw and look at Pearl who just nodded in acknowledgement.

"You got it, G-Squad." Amethyst responded, looking for something to snack on in the fridge.

The hybrids eyes began to water just a bit. "Thanks you guys. It really means a lot that you're wanting to try. But listen I have only about an hour before she gets here and I want to do something special. I want to make her feel welcome that she's coming. I don't want her to feel like it's an inconvenience for us that she's here."

"So what exactly do you have in mind, Steven?" Pearl questioned.

"Okay, so this is what I think we should do." Steven explained his plans and the gems began helping with the preparations.

* * *

Their hour was just about up and everything had gone smoothly just as planned. The crystal gems stood in front if the warp pad as instructed by the younger gem.

Amethyst holding a bag of donuts from The Big Donut, trying so hard not to just eat them right then and there. Pearl held a bouquet of mixed flowers; pink carnations, daffodils, zinnias, white clovers and violets. It may have just seemed like a bunch of random flowers, but they all had special meanings for his friend. Lastly, Garnet held up a big sign that read, "_Welcome back, Spinel!_".

Everything was almost perfect. Steven ran over to a small portable stereo that sat on the wooden bench and started to play rock music. The rock music resembled that of Sadie's song 'Disobiedent' that Spinel had previously liked so much. It was actually a Mike Krol song, which Pearl inevitably began tapping her foot to to beat. Amethyst attempted to air guitar with the bag of donuts in her hand. Garnet felt the joy inside her from the thought of the rock concert. At the time it wasn't under the best conditions. But it still gave her a warm feeling. The fusion smiled wide holding the sign out moving it from side to side like a professional sign holder.

"Phew! Okay guys, this is it. Y'all remember what to say when she gets here right?" The three nodded. Steven was so excited. Everything had come out perfect so far and- There was a white light that illuminated the dome. It was her!

**A/N - I just wanted to throw this down here incase y'all were curious about the flower meanings.****Pink carnations \- I will never forget you Daffodils \- new beginnings**** Zinnias \- reminder to never forget absent friends****White clovers \- reminding you that others are always thinking of you****Violets \- loyalty, devotion and faithfulness**


	3. Welcome Back

**Hey guys, I'm back! Wisdom teeth are all gone! Yay! I've been super impatient and I'm sure some of you have been too. I've been writing in the meantime and doing some research for some future chapters. Just another reminder - if you like my story try to leave a review. Reviews always give me motivation. Anyways, let's get this thing rollin'.**

Spinel had closed her eyes the whole way to earth. She didn't use warp pads often. They tended to make her dizzy.

She felt the arrival of her destination and opened her eyes expecting quiet and empty sunroom. But what she was met with instead was far passed her expectations.

"Welcome back to earth, Spinel!" It was the three crystal gems and Steven himself that were present. Loud rock music played, giving Spinel a warm familiar feeling. She loved it.

The next thing she wasn't expecting was to be embraced by the hybrid boy. Fuchsia coloured itself on the gems cheeks. She lightly squeezed the boy back as she smiled, feeling whole.

Steven pulled back from the hug. "It's nice to see you, Spinel. We're glad to have you here." The pink gem then realized the change of height in the boy. Spinel guessed that was another human thing. It made her feel somewhat strange.

Pearl walked up to Spinel and smiled softly, handing her the bouquet of assorted flowers. The pink gem held them to her chest, returning a "Thank you".

Amethyst followed after, holding out the bag of donuts. Spinel caught a whiff of the freshly made donuts and her whole face lit up. She hadn't seen this human food since the last time she was here. Which was technically the first time she'd had them but she was excited regardless. "Is this for me?" The pink gem sheepishly asked, pointing at the bag.

"Well, duh." Amethyst shoved the bag of donuts in her other arm. "Here, take them before I start eating them myself." The purple gem laughed, but was also very serious about the eating them part.

The pink gem smiled wide, embarrased that they had done so much for her already and she had barely been there for five minutes. Great music, great food, thoughtful flowers and-

Spinel's eyes had finally made contact with a certain star shaped viser. Her stomach suddenly felt like a black hole. She started feeling a mixture of emotions. Anxious, withdrawn, embarrased, vulnerable and ashamed. Her mind began racing with all those different feelings, she almost didn't notice the fusion walk up to her. She swallowed hard, afraid of what might happen next. Garnet reached a hand out to the smaller gem and Spinel instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, readying herself for what was to come. However, she only felt a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. The pink gem opened her eyes, a confused look on her face as she looked back up at the fusion infront of her. "Welcome back, Spinel. It's nice to see you again."

And a very, very warm welcome.

**Sorry this one's kinda short. I'll definitely make it up to you guys in the next chapter. ;)**


	4. Trust

**Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter. Sorry if any of you we're sleeping, but I'm just excited to put this chapter out. I couldnt wait 'til morning to post it. Hopefully it makes up for the last chapter. Enjoy!**

The sun glistened though the glass panels of the domed conservatory, warming Spinels skin. She laid on the floor still holding the flowers to her chest, covering her cracked gem, that she still hadn't told anyone about. Steven and Amethyst were both doing the same thing. She felt like she could lay there forever and that would be _her_ choice.

Garnet and Pearl had retreated back to the house after her warm welcome back. Steven had turned the music down and her and Amethyst decided to share the donuts she had been given.

"Uh, Amethyst. You have a piece of a donut in your hair." Steven pointed out, laughing while she unnaturally stretched her tongue all the way to the top of her head picking up the donut piece and eating it. "Hahaha, gross!"

Spinel thought it looked like fun and figured she could do that too after all. She noticed a small piece of donut on the floor next to her and decided to go for it, completely forgetting about her cracked gemstone. The pink gem had immediately regretted that decision. Her physical form glitched just as it did before. She dropped the flowers she was holding, exposing her damaged gem.

"Spinel?!" A concerned Steven jumped up from his spot on the floor and was immediately at her side. "H-how did this happen?" Steven felt a twinge of guilt for not even noticing it before. But he was so excited to see her that he barely blinked before hugging the gem after her arrival and then the flowers Pearl gave her that she had clung to this whole time. He couldn't have known.

"Uh oh. Yep, I've been there. Not exactly a great time. You better let him heal you already before you get a googly eye or start talking backwords or some junk." Spinel had never seen a cracked gem before and she didn't know what it felt like until now. She hadn't meant for this to happen. She had only meant to get rid of it. How STUPID. How stupid and careless of her. She hated it. Why couldn't she have just succeeded?

The pink gem gave the boy a remorseful look and he returned her with a worried one. "Oh, Spinel..." This time the glitch had affected her physical form as well. Her pink irises were now an iridescent white, resembling that of Lapis when Steven had first met her. "Alright, are you ready?" Steven didn't waste any time. He licked his whole hand and reached out for the broken gem.

Spinel barely had time to think. She couldn't use her stretching abilities, but she could still move. With great speed, the gem scooted away from Steven and his slathered hand. There was no way she was going to let him heal her like that. Her face got really hot at the thought of it. "WHAT?! No, no, no, no, no, no!" She protested, stumbling as she tried to get herself up off the ground. "I can't- You can't put that STUFF all over me!"

"But, I need to heal your gem before it gets any worse." Steven begged, stepping closer to her. "It'll be weird for just a second. But believe me I've done this before."

The pink gem just shook her head violently with her arms crossed over her chest in a defensive stance.

"Alright, I think imma head out while you guys figure out this whole thing. If you need me I'll be nappin' on the couch." Amethyst gave Spinel a pat on the back. "Don't be a dummy and not let him fix you. You'll definitely regret it. Laterz!" The purple gem left quickly, not wanting to be apart of whatever was going on.

Steven wiped his wet hand on his jeans. "Well Spinel, it's either that or a kiss. But that might be even more weird for you..."

"A kiss? What's that?" Spinel questioned with innocence.

_Oh boy._ Steven almost forgot that she was now a new gem to earth. All human customs and earthly practices were foriegn to this gem. He was starting over just like he had done with Peridot. "Ah, well, um a kiss is when you press your lips to something or someone to show affection. B-but mine is just for healing!" The boy defended, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "It's how I healed the earth after what happened with the injector."

Neither of them sounded pleasant to Spinel. More embarrassing than anything. Despite what it was for, she wasn't so sure about willingly having the boy so close to her like that. The thought of it made her gem feel really weird.

"It's your choice, Spinel. But I can't let you run around with your gem damaged like this. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to you." Steven sounded sad just at the thought of it. He had never actually healed another gem with a kiss before. He never had to. But he knew it would work. He just needed to convince her.

Spinel, suddenly felt guilty. She came here for help and now she wasn't going to let him help her. How selfish. SELFISH. The overwhelmed gem began hitting her fist against the side of her head. "No...**NO**!" Spinel fell over onto her knees now holding her pigtails in frustration. Steven came running up to her, quickly fixing himself on the floor infront of the gem.

Steven was already so close. He'd thought about sneaking in real quick to heal her gem, but without her approval it seemed pointless. He didn't want to lose her trust.

_"Trust in me, trust in you. Trust in us whenever you're ready to."_ Steven began to sing as he carefully pried her hands out of her hair and held them in his own, staring into her irridescent orbs. _"Believe in me. Believe with your heart, that I'll never let you go. We'll never be apart. Trust in yourself, trust in your friends. We can start over, it doesn't have to end. Trust in me, trust in you. Trust in us, I hope you're ready to."_

The pink gem had large tears threatening to fall down her cheeks as she stared up at the hybrid. She tightened her lips and pulled on a brave yet nervous expression. "O-Okay..." She whispered, hesitantly pushing her chest out to reveal her cracked gem. "Just..none of that stuff you put on your hand."

Steven smiled wide, feeling accomplished. He continued to hold her hands in his own as he leaned down to make contact with her gem. Spinel watched every movement the hybrid made. The very second that his lips came in contact with her gem, she gripped Steven's hands tightly. The hybrids lips felt incredibly strange to Spinel. Her gem felt warm, her face felt warm, her whole body felt warm. And she was pretty sure his lips were on her gem a little longer than necessary. She didn't find a reason to complain though.

Steven finally pulled back, giving Spinel a chance to examine her gem. It was perfect. Just like before. Her eyes had also changed back to their natural pink hue. And her cheeks remained flushed. "Thank you, Steven. And I'm sorry.."

The boy lightly smiled, giving her a sympathic look. "There's no reason to be sorry. I'm just glad you're okay now." Steven pulled her into a warm hug. She wasn't expecting it but she really liked his hugs. A LOT.

Spinel's arms slowly coiled around the hybrids torso, hugging him in return. She couldn't help the tears that began flowing down her cheeks. "T-Thank you." She managed to choke out.

Steven embraced her tightly. That was when the boy had decided that it was very important to him to make her feel safe, secure and adored.

**I really love this chapter a lot so I hope you guys did too. I wrote the song that Steven sang to Spinel. I'm sure you can guess, but it's called 'Trust'. It's my first time writing music and I plan to make another song or two for this fic. I also think I might be using a song from the show for a specific chapter, just because it's too perfect of a song. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to leave a review! Ciao~**


	5. Brunch

**Happy Friday everyone! Sorry if this chapter is kinda boring but I really wanted to introduce more variety of foods to Spinel since she did like donuts. Everyone have a great day and enjoy the chapter!**

Some short time had passed and Steven had been able to calm his friend. His stomach growled embarrassingly loud. The pink gem was startled, her arms retracted to normal length. "What the-"

The boy giggled, "It's okay, I'm just hungry."

"Oh!" Spinel grabbed the donut bag, expecting for maybe one more donut to be left. "Why don't you have some of- oh we ate them all..Sorry, Steven..."

"It's okay! I'll just go downstairs and eat. We have plenty of food here." The boy stood up, holding out a hand for his friend. She took his hand, not letting go and they headed all the way down to his room which hadn't changed much since she'd last seen it. They went down the stairs to the living room and Spinel started getting a strange feeling. She remembered being on these stairs after regaining her memories. Everyone wanted to fight her, with the exception of Garnet at the time. Spinel didn't like the stairs very much. She decided she would try to avoid them as much as possible.

"Good of you to finally join us you two. We thought you might have left somewhere using the warp." Pearl was setting the table for each seat. Gems didn't have to eat, but this was more of a special occasion.

"Nah, we've just been," Steven paused to glance over his shoulder at Spinel who didn't say anything. Despite her warm welcome, she was still a bit uncomfortable about just barging in. "Just catching up."

From the kitchen, Garnet pulled out a tray from the oven, turning around and giving Steven a thumbs up before continuing to help Pearl.

Spinel sharply inhaled through her nose. She had never smelled anything like it before. It smelled SO GOOD. The curious gem shyly poked her head around Steven's shoulder. "What, what is that?"

"It's called brunch. The combination of breakfast and lunch." Pearl explained. Spinel didn't know what any of those were, but she took in the new information anyway, hoping to soon understand a bit more.

"It was my idea." Garnet smirked, dumping croissants onto a large plate in the center of the table.

"Ugghhh!" Amethyst groaned, stretching as she sat up from the couch, rubbing her eyes. "Is that bacon I smell?!" The purple gem shapeshifted into a pig and squealed as she ran over to an end seat at the table.

"Ooh are those bacon and cheese croissants?!" Steven questioned with stars in his eyes.

"Yup and we didnt burn them this time." Garnet added.

"Awww, but I like them burned." Amethyst shifted back to her normal form, pouting.

Steven led Spinel to the table, having her take a seat right next to him. She was glad that she was able to sit next to him but she was a bit sad that he had let go of her hand. But Spinel understood that he needed his hands to eat after all.

The dining table had a bunch of different foods that Pearl and Garnet had so nicely prepared. Croissants, egg and bacon sandwiches, mini pancakes, berries with yogurt and buttered toast. Spinel had never seen so many different foods before and with so many different, wonderful smells.

Pearl began filling each glass with juice. Steven counted five full glasses. "Pearl, are you going to be eating with us?"

"Oh stars, no. I'll just be having a glass of juice for the toast." The irridescent gem took a seat across from Steven, near Amethyst's side.

Garnet took a seat on the other end, near Spinel. "Speaking of the toast. Here's to Spinel and new beginnings," The fusion held up her glass and everybody else followed. Spinel being the last one to realize what was going on, she picked up her glass mimicking the other gems. "It's a pleasure to have you in our home. May we look forward with happiness, and backward without regret." With that, everyone took a drink of their juice signifying that the toast was over.

"Look forward with happiness..." Spinel whispered as she stared into her juice, hesitating. She had never drank anything before. It had to be the same as eating right? She slowly put the glass to her mouth and tipped it to let the drink fall in her mouth. She began chewing, which made the sweet juice fall out of her mouth and onto her lap instead. The pink gem gasped, instantly embarrased.

Amethyst couldn't help but snicker at the naive gem. Pearl elbowed her without hesitation. "Amethyst!" She snapped.

Garnet jumped up grabbing paper towels as Steven took the glass from her making sure she was okay. "Its okay! These things happen. But when you're drinking you dont need to chew like with food. Just let it fall in your mouth and swallow." Steven helped the gem clean up and Spinel attempted once again to drink the sweet liquid just as Steven had explained. "There you go!" The pink gem was a bit embarrassed but she was glad that she had learned something new.

Everybody began eating, except for Pearl who only continued to slowly drink her juice. Once Spinel had tried her own juice, without making an absolute mess, she downed the whole glass in just a couple seconds. Steven chuckled, "Did you want some more?" The gem nodded as she began eating a croissant. Her eyes lit up with happiness. It was even better than the donuts she had earlier. Flakey outside and gooey inside. The gem hummed in pleasure.

"Here you go. Don't drink so fast next time. You don't wanna hurt yourself." Spinel wasnt sure how drinking could hurt but she acknowledged his warning anyway. She knew he was just looking out for her.

"So, Spinel," Pearl began, "How are things with the Diamonds?"

Spinel froze, almost spitting up her juice. "I uh, things are.. good." Her response almost came out like a question. Steven and Garnet noticed this. Amethyst just kept shoving egg sandwiches down her throat.

"Oh well that's good. So they're treating you well, I assume?" Pearl continued, oblivious to Spinels uncomfortableness to her simple yet forward questions.

The pink gem nodded, embarrassed to be in the spotlight. Pearl wasn't always the best at making conversation. Atleast not with humans and gems she didn't know very well. However, Pearls small talk was driving Steven crazy.

"Soooo, Spinel," The pink gem whipped her head to the side, giving the boy her attention. "I have so many things planned for us to do. Go to the boardwalk and hit up Funland, the arcade and the movies. We could even watch a movie here and play some video games. Oh! I almost forgot, Sadie Killer and the Suspects are having concerts all week here in town. So we could go to that too. We don't have to go to every show, but it's whatever you want."

"Geez, Steven. It sounds like you're too indecisive on where to bring her for your guys first date." Amethyst laughed loudly as the colour in Steven's face turned pink.

Spinel didn't know what a date was but based off of everything Steven had mentioned it sounded enjoyable. "I wanna go on a date. All that stuff sounds like a lot of fun." The gem smiled wide with excitement.

Amethyst continued snickering as Pearl retrieved her phone from inside her gem. "Oh shoot! Speaking of dates, I'm almost late for mine and Sabina's date. So sorry to cut this short everyone but I'm in a hurry." Pearl quickly got up, heading for the door. "I will see you all later!"

"Psh! What a nerd." The purple gem joked, downing the last of the pancakes and squirting syrup down her throat.

"Okay, Amethyst, I think we're done. That's enough eating." Garnet commented, making Amethyst look down at her bloated body.

"Oops, I guess I did kind of eat a lot huh? My b!" She chuckled. Garnet got up from her seat, putting all the dishes in the sink and picking up Amethyst under one arm. "Byeee guys!"

"Steven, I know your friend is here but it is your turn to do the dishes. We'll see you later. Have fun today." Garnet slid her visor down and winked at them with her third eye, retreating to her room with the other gem under her arm.

Spinel let her head drop, she suddenly felt really awkward. Not because she was alone with Steven. But because everyone had just left.

"Are you okay?" Steven had immediately noticed her sudden change in expression.

"Yeah... I just, I don't think they like me very much.."

"Well Pearl actually did have plans. She's been talking about it for days. So didn't leave on purpose. And Garnet, she uses her future vision to make decisions a lot of the times. So she must have left for a good reason." Steven didn't know exactly why, but he knew it wasn't because of disliking Spinel. "Don't worry, they do like you. It's just going to take some time to get use to. Thats all."

"Oh okay..." She hoped that was the case.

Steven grabbed his and Spinels plates and headed for the kitchen sink. "Now if you wanna do all that fun stuff sooner, would you mind helping me out with these?"

"Oh, s-sure!" The gem jumped up from her seat and rushed to where Steven was. He handed her a dry towel and began washing. "What do I, uh,"

"Just make sure all the water is gone off of them and then you can stack them here on the counter." Steven gestured to help his friend understand.

The pink gem quickly understood and they got to work. The soap began sudsing up creating bubbles that Steven explained to her. She had a huge urge to play with them.

As if Steven was reading her mind, he swiped his finger in the bubbles and tapped Spinels small nose leaving the foam on the tip of it. "Boop!" She giggled and tried to blow it off at Steven. This started a friendly bubble war.

Spinel didn't really care that they had to do 'chores'. She was just really happy to be by Steven's side. Even though everyone else had left, Steven didn't. It made her gem feel warm. She didnt want it to stop.

**So yeah incase anyone forgot, Sabina was the girl that Kevin had mentioned in "Kevin Party" I'm a firm believer that mystery girl ,a.k.a "S.", is her. Hope you all enjoyed. Don't forget to review!**


	6. Video Games

**Goodmorning guys! I'm so so so so sorry I hadn't posted a chapter in over a week. I've had a lot going on this week at work and at home and I've been very busy. I barely had any time to write anything, so this chapter may be a bit shorter. I'm NOT falling off I swear! I _should_ have the next chapter out by Monday, if not before. Anywho, please enjoy!**

The sink finished draining with a loud suction noise and Steven rinsed the rest of the bubbles down. "We did great. Thanks Spinel. Now I just gotta change out of this wet shirt." The front of Stevens shirt was damp with water and soap from their little bubble fight. "C'mon, let's go."

Spinel held onto Steven's arm as they left the kitchen. She had forgot about the stairs. Steven ascended the wooden staircase, her hands were attached to his arm but she stood still at the bottom. He stopped to turn around and see her arms stretched out several feet from where she stood at the bottom of the stairs. He almost forgot she could do that. "Spinel, are you okay?"

The pink gem had blacked out for just a moment. Suddenly, she got a curious look on her face. "Behind you," Steven turned around to see the portrait of Rose Quartz. "Who is that?"

Steven swallowed hard. He knew that Pink Diamond was an obvious touchy subject for Spinel. Rose Quartz was probably just as bad, if not worse. But he didn't want to lie to her by any means. What good would that do? "That's um, that's my mom. Rose Quartz."

Her eyes went wide, face turned sad. The realization began setting in. "You mean... That's Pink?" Steven just nodded. "So that's what became of her, huh?" Spinel lowly chuckled, turning her face away from the boy with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Spinel. I didn't think to take it down or cover it."

"No, no. It's okay. I would've found out at some point anyway. I, uh, I think I needed to see this." She pulled her hands back, wiping her tear filled eyes.

"Spinel..." He felt really bad that she had found out so soon after returning to earth. Not that she didn't deserve to know the truth. He just wanted to see her happy was all.

"Don't sweat it. You should probably change or whatever you said." The gem stretched a leg all the way around Steven to the very top of the stairs. She decided she would do that from now on so not only would she not have to go up the stairs she hated so much but so she wouldn't have to face HER. Spinel then decided that she really, REALLY didn't like the stairs.

The gem sat down on the end of Steven's bed, attempting to forget the newly learned information racing through her head. Steven took off his pink jacket, throwing it on the bed next to Spinel. He pulled out a t-shirt; a black shirt with a yellow star. He turned to his friend who was now intensely watching him. Steven thought about leaving her downstairs while he changed, but he didn't like the thought of leaving her alone. Especially not right now. Not after what she just learned about his mom. "Um, you might wanna close your eyes."

"Why?" The gem cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I have to change my shirt. So I'll be indecent for just a few seconds."

"Oh! S-Sorry!" Spinels cheeks flushed and she immediately covered her eyes with her gloved hands.

Steven chuckled at her. It was cute how embarrassed she could get about something so small. The boy quickly switched shirts. "Look, I'm all done. That was quick right?"

Spinel slowly uncovered her eyes, her cheeks still sporting fuchsia. "Heh, yeah I guess."

"Anyways, since we're up here maybe we can play a game?" The pink gem froze, holding her breath. 'Here in the garden, let's play a game. I'll show you how it's done.' "I can teach you how." Steven continued, holding out a gaming controller to the triggered gem. "Spinel, are you okay?"

The gem took in a shaky breath before she spoke. "I, uh, I dunno... Is it a real game..or-"

"Spinel, I promise to you that there's no tricks. No lies, no decieving and no fake games. Okay? Trust me." Steven stuck out his pinky at the other gem, who in turn looked very confused. Her lack of knowledge on human customs showed Spinel's innocent side. Steven chuckled, he thought it was a cute side of her.

"Here," Steven grabbed one of her hands, making her join her pinky with his. "Like this!"

Fuchsia coloured her cheeks. "Huh? I don't understand. What's this s'posed to mean?"

The hybrid chuckled again, "It's called a promise. A pinky promise. When someone pinky promises that means they're giving you their absolute word that they're telling the truth and they intend to keep that promise."

"Oh.. Okay. So um, then you want to play a real game with me? No tricks?" She questioned, still slightly skeptical.

"No tricks." Steven said firmly, smiling and squeezing her pinky with his own. "You have my word. Pinky promise!"

Spinel smiled, her gem feeling warm. "Okay, let's play then!"

Steven smiled wide, taking a seat on the floor infront of his tv. The pink gem did the same. He started up his PlayStation, handed her a controller and began explaining the rules. Spinel easily understood the rules, even though she had never played games like this before. It was very simple. "So yeah, don't get too discouraged if you don't win at first. You'll get better over time. It took me months to get really good."

-15 Minutes later-

"PLAYER 2 WINS AGAIN!"

Steven stared at the screen in awe. He hadn't felt so deafeted in his life. Atleast with video games anyway. He had been playing video games for YEARS and practicing this specific game for MONTHS. They hadn't even been playing for half an hour and Spinel was like a video game God. He was thoroughly impressed.

"It's okay, Steven. You'll get better over time." Spinel teased, winking at the boy and giggling at her reversed joke.

The teen smiled, chuckling. "I guess maybe I should have expected this. But regardless I'm really impressed."

"Awe gee. You dont have to flatter me." Spinel placed a hand on her cheek and waved her other hand at the teen. She wasn't exactly modest about her ability of being good at pretty much every game ever. She knew she was good. That's how she was made after all. But she still enjoyed it nevertheless.

They both laughed and decided to continue playing. Steven really had to focus. Determination filled the teen. Even though he was pretty sure he wouldn't win. But it humoured the pink gem and he was still having fun.

The hybrid was really happy that Spinel had started to come out of her shell a bit. Laughing and joking around with him. However, he wasn't quite sure if it was because of him or the video games that he had introduced to her. But either way his plans for her were already working out perfectly. Steven couldn't wait for the other things he had in store for her. He was absolutely ecstatic to see her happy and having a good time. He never wanted it to end. He never wanted that smile to go away and he was going to do his best to make it stay.

**Oh I totally forgot to mention this. Thank you all sooooooo much for your positive and encouraging reviews! You guys keep me moving forward! Keep up the reviews and I'll keep up with the chapters! ;P **


	7. Funland

**Hi everyone! Sorry I didnt post sooner like I said I was going to. I just got super busy this week. But this is a longer chapter sooooo hopefully that makes up for it haha. Also, I wanted to say thanks so much for sending in more reviews. Y'all make me blush! Thanks for being so supportive with this story. I'm super excited for the future chapters. On a side note, I hope you're all ready for Steven Universe Future! I can't wait to see more Spinel, Steven driving and of course the new villains, etc... Anyway, enjoy this cute and derpy chapter!**After another couple hours of significant losses on Stevens end, he had eventually gotten tired of playing. The pink gem could go on forever but Steven was worn out at that point.

"Phew. Okay, I might die if i keep this up." Spinel was a little worried at this comment and it showed. "I don't mean that literally! I'm just tired. Maybe we could go outside and get some sun? I can show you the boardwalk if you want. Maybe we can hit up Funland?"

Spinels eyes lit up. "Are you kidding?! I would love to!" The excited gem was bouncing up and down. Literally.

The teen chuckled putting his hands on her shoulders to still her. "Then let's get going!"

Steven thought about taking Lion or the Dondai, but he also thought about the nice walk down the beach and into town would be relaxing for the both of them.

The sky was clear of any clouds, the sun warming their skin, wind blowing through their hair. It was a perfect beach day. Maybe they would take advantage of it later.

They finally approached the Funland sign and Spinel suddenly had a flash of memory. She had been here before. The memory wasn't very clear but she was pretty sure she had been here before. Having a good time but not under the best circumstances. _'Don't forget what you did. What you did. What YOU did!'_

"Spinel?" Her head shot up, lip quivering. "Hey, it's okay. We're here to have fun." The hybrid grabbed her hand in his own and squeezed it reassuringly. "We can go whenever _you're_ ready. No rush." He smiled softly at her.

The pink gem dropped her head, closing her eyes. Spinel thought about how this place made her feel. Happy and enthusiastic but also guilty and alone. But this was a different situation. They were actually there to have fun this time. To make new and better memories. One's that she would remember. She took a deep breath, picking her head up and opening her eyes. "Lets go."

* * *

Steven allowed his friend to choose what they should do first. Without hesitation she chose the The Appalachian. Steven always called it the "kiddie coaster". But Spinel loved it. They proceeded to ride it three times in a row, per Spinels request, aka her puppy dog eyes. Boy was she good at the puppy dog eyes. Her magenta eyes wide and sparkling, staring deep into his soul. And that cute bottom lip poked out. Steven couldn't take it. He would ride that dumb ride fifty more times for the other gem. Thankfully though, she decided she wanted to do something else.

"Ooh ooh! What about that cup ride?!" Spinel pointed at the ride with excitement.

"Oh you mean The Teacups? Yeah, let's go on it. Come on!" The hybrid grabbed Spinels hand and they ran all the way to the ride.

On the ride, Steven told Spinel about the time he got motion sickness and just jumped off of the moving ride breaking it in the process. Resulting in him being 'banned for life'. The pink gem laughed the whole time. The teen wasn't sure if it was because of his story or if she was just honestly enjoying the ride. Either way he loved hearing her genuine laugh. It was wholehearted and full with absolute euphoria.

Lastly, there was the Hyper Space ride. Steven hadn't been on the ride since that one time with Connie and her dad. It had been about four years. Steven could hardly believe it.

"Oh boy, this'll be so much fun!" Spinel could barely contain her excitement.

"Just make sure to keep your arms down on this one. I know you like to wave your arms on the rides but this one is different. You could get hurt." The hybrid warned.

"You got it, boss." She gave him a thumbs up.

Soon they were at the front of the line and it was their turn. They strapped in, arms at their sides and the man in the center started the ride.

After about a minute, Steven didn't know how much more spinning he could take. He had gotten better about his motion sickness on rides but at that moment it was becoming too much. If the ride had been The Teacups, he probably would have jumped over the edge by now.

The ride stopped. He had to get off. The teen grabbed Spinels hand and rushed her off of the ride and outside to the back of the giant machine. He quickly turned to the gem, her eyeballs were literally rolling in her head from the ride.

"Spinel.." She blinked stilling her eyes. "I need you to just stay right here. I'll be right over there." Steven rushed off about ten feet away from the other gem bent over on the ground. She couldn't really tell what he was doing but he did not look like he was having fun.

"S-Steven?! Are you okay?!" Worry filled her voice as she called out to him from where she stood. He didn't respond right away but he soon stood up and returned to her.

"Sorry, Spinel. I don't think I can do any more rides. I just need to get some water and then we can hit the arcade. Sound good?"

Steven looked a little bit paler than normal. It worried the pink gem. "Are you sure you're okay?" He nodded, hooking one of his arms in hers.

They headed to a concession stand and Steven bought a bottle of water. He squished his mouth, spit in the grass and downed the rest of the bottle with ease. Spinel had a dazed expression as she watched him drink. "What's up? You look confused."

"Oh sorry.. It's just..I don't get it." Spinel turned and pointed at the ocean. "There's so much water over there. Why would you "pay" for only a little water when you can just drink as much water as you want for free?"

Steven chuckled, the pink gem blushed. Was he going to make fun of her? Did she ask a stupid question? Most likely.

"That's ocean water. You can't drink it. There's salt in it and other creatures live in it so it's not very clean to drink." He held up his empty bottle. "This is purified water. It's been filtered and cleaned for consumption. So it won't make you sick."

The curious gem took in the information but was stuck on one thing Steven had said in particular. "What kind of creatures? Like water humans?"

Steven immediately thought about mermaids. It was quite possible. Aliens existed, so why not mermaids? "Yeah, probably. But there's fish and other stuff down there. Lots of underwater plants and coral."

Spinel didn't know what any of that was but she was excited. She gasped loudly and grabbed one of Stevens hands with both of her own. "Can we go after the arcade?! I want to see fish!" There were hearts in her eyes. Her lip started to do the cute pouty thing again.

"Okay! Yes! We can go." Steven chuckled nervously, putting his free hand on top of hers. "Lets focus on having fun at the arcade first though okay?" She nodded with a smile and they headed for the arcade.

"WHOA!" They stood outside of the arcade. The pink gems amazed expression looked as if she'd never seen this place before. Her memories were a bit foggy. "Lets go, lets go!" Steven was dragged inside with speed.

"Did you want me to show you everything? Y'know so you can pick what you want to play first." She nodded, looking a little lost anyways.

"Alright! Sooooo, theres Pinball, Chrono Panic 4, Meat Beat Mania, Punch Buddy, Race Rush, Road Killer, Teens of Rage, Virtua Teens of Rage, Whacker Man and Whacker Man Jr. The rest of the games arent really that fun." Steven had dragged the pink gem around the whole arcade while listing off all of his favourite games. She almost felt just as dizzy after getting off of the Hyper Space ride. "Oh, I totally almost forgot about Skee Ball!"

"Skee Ball?" She tilted her head with a questioning look. Steven grabbed her hand again, leading her to the said game.

"Yeah, Skee Ball. You remember, right?" He gestured at the game with a small expectant smile.

Spinel stared at the game, eyes squinted as she tried to recall her foggy memories. "Uh... Umm.." She began to get discouraged, her eyes squeezed shut. There was a sharp pain in her head as she forced herself to remember. She couldn't help the low growl that escaped her throat as she grabbed the sides of her head with both hands. _Remember. REMEMBER. _

The gem suddenly remembered tickets. Yellow tickets with stars on them. What else? Steven! She remembered Steven...and someone else? Purple...Purple? It had to be Amethyst. They were...sitting on top of the game and they all had gotten chased out by some man. The owner probably. She remembered more than before. Spinel briefly remembered the arcade but she mostly remembered obsessing over all of the tickets that Steven and Amethyst had won.

"-nel? Spinel?!" Her eyes shot open, now looking up at the hybrid who was sporting a very concerned look. The pink gem felt something roll down one of her cheeks. Suddenly, a warm hand touched the same cheek, wiping away...a tear? "Spinel... I'm sorry, I didn't know, I thought it would be easier for you to remember. If it hurts you to remember then it's okay! You don't have to push yourself." His hand wet from her tear, moved up to grab one of her hands that still held her pained head. "We don't have to play Skee Ball. Do you want to play something else?"

Spinel took a moment, her eyes glued to the ground. "No, I... I want to play this game..." She straightened her posture, her eyes meeting Steven's. "I wanna play Skee Ball with you."

The teen gave Spinel a soft smile. "Okay then," He shoved his hand in his pocket pulling out his wallet and four game tokens. "Here! Just put these coins in this slot here and press this start button and the balls will release. Then you just have to get them in the holes over there. The higher the number, the more points and tickets to recieve." Steven showed her exactly what to do and she caught on quick. "I'll be right over here getting more tokens. So I'll be back in just a sec, okay?"

Spinel wasn't one hundred percent sure about Steven leaving her, but she trusted him anyway. She knew he was just around the corner. He'd be back.

She did as he said and put all four coins in and pressed the start button. The balls came rolling down with a loud clacking noise. It made her jump followed by a high pitched "EEP!"

Steven whipped around the corner. "Hey, are you good?" She nodded. "Good. Now just pick up the balls." He slid back from sight, continuing to retrieve coins.

Spinel turned back the the game picking up a ball. She glanced at the orb in her hand and then up at the two holes labeled '100'. She had an idea!

Pink arms streched out over the ramp, reaching for the two '100' goals. A ball was dropped in each one. One after another more balls were dropped into the machine.

"Spinel, no!" Steven ran over to her, a plastic cup filled with tokens in his hands. "Spinel, you're gonna get us in so much trouble." Steven was getting a weird deja vu moment. It brought him back to the time he took the crystal gems to the arcade.

Steven hadn't even gotten close to Spinel yet. Her arms snapped back so fast that she stumbled almost making her fall backwards.

Before Steven could say anything else. A voice all too familiar to him yelled across the arcade as it approached. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" The voice was coming after Spinel.

The pink gem quickly hid behind Steven, hands wrapped around one of his arms with her head peeking around his shoulder. A reassuring hand touched one of Spinel's hands. She held her breath.

"Steven? Is that you? I never thought I would have to say this anytime soon, but do I need to ban you from my arcade? AGAIN?!"

"Sorry, Mr. Smiley. She's a new gem from visiting from homeworld. She didn't know. I'm gonna show her how to play the right way."

Are you sure she's never been here before? She looks awfully familiar." Mr. Smiley skeptically examined the gem up close, his hands on his hips. He looked her up and down and then hard in the face.

Spinel was nervous. She didn't want Steven to get in any trouble, but she didn't dare say a word.

The skeptical man finally pulled back. "Hmm, I guess you DO look different than the gem I saw way back when.." He sighed, finally letting out a loud laugh at his misunderstanding. "Sorry about that kids! Steven just make sure your friend here knows the rules. Oh and no breaking anything!"

"Yessir!" The teen called back as Mr. Smiley strode away. Once the man was out of sight Spinel let out a huge breath she didn't even know she was holding in. "Yikes. Sorry about that. I guess I don't really have the best reputation in Funland. I don't really blame him for wanting to keep a close eye on us."

"I just.. I don't think I understand. I played the game right. I won. Look, I even won all of these!" The pink gem picked up handfuls of tickets from the floor.

"Spinel, you can't do that. It's cheating."

She knew exactly what cheating was but she was confused. He had said she needed to get the ball in the hole. So that's what she did. How else was she suppose to reach all the way over there?

"Theres only one way to play the game. Like this." Steven grabbed a ball and underhand rolled it, nailing 20 points. "See? Easy right?"

Spinel didn't blink. Boy did she feel..._stupid_. She wanted to smack herself right then but Steven was handing her something. The last ball. "Huh?"

"Here. You try now." He stepped back, allowing her room.

The gem stared at the ball in her hand and then back up at the game. She could do this. Totally easy. Spinel wound up into a pitching position and underhanded the ball down the lane. She threw it so hard Steven was pretty sure that he saw sparks as it rolled all the way to the ramp. It continued up the ramp and hit the top of the game, making it fly back like a boomerang.

Spinel barely had time to react. The ball was headed straight for her face. She just squeezed her eyes shut, fists clenched, ready for impact. When she didn't feel pain, her eyes slowly opened. The ball was there, but it was held by a hand. Steven's hand to be more precise.

"Phew! That was a close one." The teen was filled with relief that his friend hadn't gotten hurt. "Ouch, you threw it pretty hard."He chuckled nervously, shaking his hand. And I thought you were suppose to be good at games." Steven teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Spinel smirked, "Psh! I'll be good at anything you put infront of me." She hip bumped him, took the ball from his hand and proceeded to carefully underhand the ball onto the ramp. She easily scored 50 points. "See? I just needed to be gentle was all." She crossed her arms and turned her head away with a smirk.

Steven chuckled, which got the other gems attention. "Heh, oh my gosh. We're gonna get so many tickets!" Steven slammed the cup full of coins on top of the machine and they both began playing at different lanes.

Tickets were spat out of each machine. Five at a time, ten at a time. Steven had been playing this game since he was a kid. He was REALLY good. Almost as good as the gem who had only JUST learned how to play. Falling behind Spinel by only 50 points, Steven was doing pretty good.

They had finally run out of tokens. Tickets covered their feet and every part of the floor where they stood. Spinel picked up a bunch of the tickets and giggled with pleasure. "We did it!"

"Yeah we did. Now lets go pick out some prizes." They collected the rest of the tickets and turned to leave. They suddenly stopped when they saw a crowd of humans and gems standing there in awe. When had they all gotten there? The two were so absorbed in the game neither of them had even noticed.

They tried to push through the crowd, though a bunch of them wanted to high five the couple and compliment them on their "expert skills." Steven didn't really consider himself an expert. However, he did earn almost as much tickets as Spinel and he did consider her an expert. Sort of. Maybe a beginner expert? Either way she was crazy good and he was pretty close.

Finally, they had reached the prize counter, meeting with Mr. Smiley again. They put all of their tickets on the counter and the man in front of them squinted at them, skeptical. "Y'all weren't cheating were you?"

They both shook their heads. "No way! Come on, Mr. Smiley. You know how good I am at Skee Ball."

"Eh, that's true. You've always been pretty good. And I wouldn't put it past ya if your skills rubbed off onto this one." He gestured at Spinel, chuckling. He grabbed the tickets and began to put them into the ticket counter. "Fourteen oh five. What do you kids want?"

Spinels eyes scanned the prizes. She really didn't know what anything was. But something familiar had finally caught her eye. "Is that a giant donut?!" She pointed, resisting the urge to stretch her arm over and rip it right off the wall.

"Oh, that's not a real donut. It's a pool float. A tube. But they make it look like a donut." Steven corrected.

"A tube?" Her head cocked to the side.

"Yeah you bring it to the pool or beach and you lay in it to keep you from falling in the water."

"Then what's the point of going in the water if you're not gonna get wet?" Spinel was super confused.

"Its just like, nice and relaxing. You lay in the float, hands and feet hang in the water and the sun still keeps you warm. It's real chill." Steven tried his best to explain to the pink gem. But she wouldn't understand without experiencing it for herself. But she wanted to try it.

She looked up at the donut float and pointed at it again. "I want that. The donut." The man retrieved It for her. It was only 1,300 tickets, that left them with plenty of tickets for smaller prizes.

"We still have a lot of tickets, Spinel. But we can't get any more big prizes so these are the ones we can choose from." He gestured to the small prizes in the glass case in front of them. Again she didnt recognize anything, Steven then realized this. "Okay, so there's candy, that's stuff you can eat it's really good. Theres also rings, pencils, erasers, kazoos, rubber poppers, lanyards, bouncy balls, glowsticks, stamps, sticky hands-"

"What's a sticky hand?!" Spinel interrupted excitedly.

"Heh, its uh, basically just in the name. Here, why don't we get a couple and I'll just show you. I'll have two sticky hands, please." Once given two capsules, Steven handed one to Spinel and popped his open. "Look, just stick your finger through the hole at the end and you you just kinda swing it around." The teen demonstrated by flinging it at the glass counter, making it stick.

"OH!" The pink gems eyes were filled with wonder. She wanted to do that too! She quickly opened the capsule and sticker finger through and launched the sticky hand at the ceiling above them. "Hah! Oh my gosh, Steven! It's like my arms but sticky!" She continued to laugh as she pulled the hand from the ceiling. Unexpectedly, the hand came down fast hitting Steven right across his face. Both Spinel and Mr. Smiley laughed at the teen, who within seconds was laughing along too.

"Alright you lovebirds, what else do you want?" Steven's face turned red, Spinel's was again filled with confusion.

"What's a lov-"

"We'll just take however much candy we can get with our tickets please!" Steven interrupted, his face sporting an even darker shade of red. The owner proceeded to give them a large bag of candy, taking the last of their tickets.

"Soooo, we're going to the beach now right? I want to use the donut!" The hybrid chuckled at her. Everytime she got excited it made his heart skip a beat. It was just too cute.

"Yeah of course!"

Spinel was so excited to go to the beach. She had never been before. She really hadn't appreciated any of earths natural features. She wanted to change that. She wanted to see earth in a new light. Instead of a nowhere planet filled with a bunch of nobodies, eventually it could be a place of security, with new friends and maybe someday it could be her home.


	8. Beach Day

**Hello everyone, I'm back!**

**First I'd like to start off with saying, to those who decided to stuck around, thank you all so much for your patience and thank you so so so so much to those who wrote out those very nice reviews after I posted the hiatus chapter. They were very sweet and honestly I cried while reading them. Thank you for being kind to me. You guys are so awesome.**

**The holidays this year were very difficult for me, though I am doing a lot better right now. I just signed myself up for all women's interactive gym classes, I'm eating healthier and I'm working to be better with controling my anger and stressful outbursts. I'm working hard to be a better me and I already feel great.**

**If you don't wish to read my ranting about the holidays go ahead and skip ahead to the chapter below. Hope you enjoy!**

**If you wanna hear what took me so damn long, keep reading I guess? Forewarning, there is mentioning of injury, death and suicide.**

**Starting from the beginning of the hiatus, I was super stressed out and worried over bills and junk since my roommates were moving out but turns out we ended up being just fine money wise. So if anything, that was a plus.**

**The beginning of November, I had heard that a recent acquaintance of mine had shot himself. I was super shocked and couldn't stop thinking about it for days for some reason. However, most of his friends seem to think it was a cover up since he had a very successfull business going on.**

**A couple days later my mom called me to deliver some unfortunate news. My great grandmother(97 y/o) who had dementia had fallen in her home. She hit her head, broke several ribs and damaged her rotator cuff. This sent her straight to the hospital. Upon some testing, they found 2 different cancers. I can't remember what kind of cancer my mom said but it sent her straight to hospice and they said she had 3 months max but could be sooner for her passing. Unfortunately she did not make it too much longer after that. She passed the day before Thanksgiving in her sleep. I'm still very sad about this but I am very grateful that she is no longer suffering.**

**Throughout my grieving in the beginning of December my depression had gotten a lot worse. I wasn't talking to anyone, like verbally. I think I might have been in shock or something. But I just felt so empty and hollow.**

**One night I woke up at 2am to see some messages from my bf(who works a warehouse job from 4pm-3am) saying that his heart was beating super fast and his hands were numb and that he was leaving work to go to the emergency room. He had a bunch of tests and blood work done. They suspected that it was a hyperactive thyroid but recommended that he go to his primary care doctor.**

**We couldnt get him in until after Christmas unfortunately because we live in Florida and its super hard to get into a primary care doctor right away because all of the old people schedule their appointments and book up the scheduling tools. But anyways, he had to get more blood work done for testing and they recommended no caffeine(to a man who loves his coffee).**

**After they got the results in we went back in for another appointment and his thyroid levels were through the roof. This was caused by an autoimmune disease called graves disease. His doctor prescribed him some thyroid medicine and recommended going gluten free and to have a better sleep schedule(which is impossible due to his work schedule that he cannot change). So gluten free was a must. It was very difficult for him to hear since he loves bread and pasta and basically everything with gluten. But I tried my best to be positive and I found some gluten free recipes online and we went shopping for him and all that jazz. Its been a few montgs since he started his new diet, he is doing a lot better than before and he loves eating gluten free food!**

**During all of this going on I've been super depressed, I started to wonder if there was even a point to living anymore. I couldnt seem to find one. I cried myself to sleep for almost a month straight and cursed myself everytime I woke up and realized I was still alive. It was very difficult to control myself through this depressive state. I had never felt that empty before. Nothing I did made me happy or feel good. Eveything was blah to me. Music, drawing, writing and watching tv. I wasn't hanging out with friends. I wasn't even talking to the people I saw at work. It was very strange.**

**My best friend started going to this gym. Which I have now joined because of her and since going I've started to feel alot better. I just feel really good from the inside out. My mind is doing alot better and so is my body. My thoughts are alot more positive and im eating healthier. I'm not 100% just yet, but I'm working on it! I still have a ways to go but my progress is already tremendous compared to the beginning of the year.**

**If you ever catch yourself in the state that I was in, please talk to someone or get some help! Depression isn't easy to deal with and it's exceptionally more difficult to handle all by yourself. So please reach out to a friend, family member or you could call the suicide hotline at 1(800)273-8255.**

**To anyone who is struggling with mental health, I send you all of my love and encouragement to reach out for help. Please, please keep in mind that it gets better. It gets SO much better.**

**Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.**

**If you've stuck around this long then I applaud you. But this isn't why you're reading. So please go enjoy my story!**

* * *

The pair walked down the boardwalk, headed to the beach near Stevens home. Spinel was super excited, she could barely contain it. She was having so much fun so far and it was because of Steven. Her gem began to feel warm again just thinking about it.

"Oh, man!" Steven facepalmed. "I totally forgot. We can't go to the beach yet."

"Wh..why not?" Spinel frowned.

"Don't worry we're still going. I just need to change into my bathing suit. So we'll have to go back to my house. We may also need some other stuff too now that I think about it."

"What's a bathing suit?" The gem asked, curious.

"It's uh.. Clothes that you wear when you go swimming. They're made out of a certain material so that it's easier to move around in the water since regular clothes hold a lot of water and get heavy."

Spinel was still a little confused. She cocked her head to the side and stared back at Steven with a confused expression.

Steven saw the confusion. "Uhh.. Oh! Here! Come on, I can just show you!" He grabbed onto her hand and dragged her into a nearby shop with a sign labeled 'Beach City Beachwear'. "I usually come here to get all of my swim shorts."

The pink gems eyes scanned the store. Bathing suits were everywhere. All different kinds and many different colours. Bikinis and full pieces. Swim shorts and wetsuits. Some revealing and some not so revealing. Something caught Spinels eye and then for the first time ever - she took off.

"Wait, Spinel!" She was too fast. He'd already lost her. He followed the direction she went, pushing past racks of women's swim suits. "Spinel?" He saw the tips of her pigtails and headed in that direction.

There she was standing infront of a headless mannequin that was posed with its hands fisted on its hips. It wore a full piece bathing suit that the pink gem couldn't take her eyes off of.

"It's. So. CUTE!" There were literal hearts in Spinels eyes. She turned to Steven, hands folded in a begging manor. "I wanna wear this to the beach! Steven, can we get it, pleeeeaase?" She begged, hearts still in her eyes. Her lip was poked out again.

Shit. How could he resist with that look she gave him? But the thought of Spinel in a swimsuit made Steven instantly turn red. Oh God.

He looked up at the swimsuit and his vision manipulated the mannequin, turning it into Spinel. He stopped breathing. He didn't know if he could take it.

_Quit being such a weirdo, Universe!_ His mind yelled at him, but he couldn't help it! He already thought she was super cute. Atleast when she wasn't trying to kill him and his friends. He'd finally admitted it to himself. He thought she was cute. Really, really cute. And he cared about her so much already.. Steven shook the thought from his head and tried to regain his composure.

"Okay, okay. Uh, let's see how much it is first." Spinel was bouncing up and down as Steven searched for a price tag. "One...one hundred and fifty dollars?! What?! Why is this so much money?"

"Maybe because it's just so cute?" Spinel guessed, shrugging.

Steven looked at some other bathing suit prices and they all seemed to be around the same price if not more.

"What happened to this place?" He knew it had been ahwile since he'd bought swim shorts from here but it seemed like their prices had gone up a lot.

He ran over to a nearby rack of men's swim shorts to look at the price. Thirty dollars. It was the same as usual price he'd paid for his own. Steven squinted his eyes. He was disgusted. Upcharging women for cute bathing suits. It was so stupid. And what Steven thought was even more stupid was that the more revealing the bathing suit, the more expensive they seemed to be. "I'm sorry, Spinel. It's just I dont have enough money for it."

Spinel didn't understand the concept of money just yet. All she understood were the tokens at the arcade. "Soooo, let's just take it?" She reached up to grab the bathing suit off of the mannequin.

"No, Spinel!" She paused, "That's stealing. That's bad. You have to give them your money for it. It's like, trade."

"Oh...But we don't have enough..." The hearts in her eyes had broken in half. Stevens heart had done the same at the sight of the saddened gem. He hated seeing her like that. But he had an idea.

The teen put his hands on her shoulders, her sad eyes met his. "Well, we can't buy it but maybe there's another way."

"Anotha' way?"

"Yeah! You can shapeshift right?" He raised his eyebrows at her hoping she'd get the idea.

She nodded, not yet sure what he was insinuating. His eyes moved to the swim suit and then back to her. She gasped, realization finally hitting her. "Oh my- Pfft! Duh!"

Steven smiled, stepping back to give her room. "Whenever you're ready." He was glad something this small could make her so happy.

The pink gem paused, looking at the bathing suit she loved so much and then she glanced over to a picture on the wall. There were humans dressed in swim wear with sunglasses, hats and no shoes. They even had some weird white stuff on their noses and cheeks.

Spinel had then figured out what she would do. "Okay!" With a flash of white light, Spinel had shape shifted her entire look.

The first thing Steven had noticed was her hair. Instead of her two signature pig tails, she now sported a high ponytail, rather than sticking up like usual, it hung low to her now bare shoulders.

Her gloves and shoes were gone, exposing dainty pink hands and feet. She wore the same bathing suit that the mannequin wore, except the colours had been altered to match her usual colour pallet.

It was a deep magenta sleeveless one piece. A thin strap wrapped around the back of her neck, connecting to the fuschia coloured, frilly top on the front of her new suit. Going down the front were two light pink seams that unveiled the curvature of her now exposed frame. Around her lower back and along her hips were more fuschia frills, slightly resembling that of Pink Diamonds frilly skirt.

Lastly, in the center of her new outfit sat her perfectly cut, heart shaped gem that had remained upside down. The black tear marks on her smiling cheeks had also remained the same.

The newly dressed gem smiled with delight as she spun around on the ball of her foot. "What do you think, Steven?! Pretty cute, huh?" She winked at him and posed with her hands fisted on her hips, mimicking the mannequin.

The teen swallowed hard at the sight. She was indeed pretty cute. His face hot with embarrasment. He had seen the gems change their outfits using shapeshifting but he had never seen another gem do it before. This was somehow different.

Regardless, he felt it was maybe a little too revealing. Her shoulders and legs were way more exposed than before. He almost felt the need to hand her his jacket. But he honestly was intrigued by how different she looked. He had to force himself to tear his eyes away just to prevent from looking like a creep. "You- you look great, Spinel." He gave her a warm smile, his cheeks sporting a light blush.

"Thanks, Steven." Her cheeks were pink and she hugged herself. She felt...so good. For the first time in a long time.

Steven thought about it for a second. Her newly formed outfit was missing something. He just couldn't figure out what it was. He observed her in deep thought with a hand on his chin.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" She questioned him.

"That's it!" He snapped his fingers, startling the other gem. He snatched her hand and rushed her across the shop.

"Huh? What's wrong? Steven?" They were now infront of a large sunglasses rack. Spinel recognized them from the picture on the wall.

The hybrid searched for a specific pair of glasses he had seen many times before. "Where...are they?..." His eyes scanned over every pair of glasses. There they were!

He quickly picked up the pair of sunglasses and placed them on top of her head. He led the gem by her shoulders to stand infront of a nearby mirror. "Here, take a look. Even better now right?"

Hot pink, heart shaped glasses sat on top of her her head. Her eyes instantly resembled the shape of her new accessory. She then held her cheeks with both hands in excitement. "Oh my stars! I love them!"

The teen chuckled at her. _So cute._ "Come on. We still have to pay for those." She nodded following him to the front counter where he paid for the glasses.

In the process, Steven tried to give her a short rundown on money and the method of paying for things instead of just taking them. Just like most, she soon easily understood the basics.

They exited the shop and headed for the beach house. When arriving, Steven jumped up high and landed softly on the wood. The gem followed, taking a large step from the sand to Stevens balcony.

"Alright, so I just need to change real quick and we're gonna need a large blanket, two towels, an umbrella and probably some drinks would be nice. I just need your help packing everything in a bag." She nodded and they headed inside to collect the items. The house was empty. The pair wondered where everyone was. We're they all still busy?

The hybrid asked Spinel to wait downstairs for just a minute while he changed into his swim trunks and a tank top, that of course sported his signature star. He rushed back downstairs to make sure his friend was okay. The gem patiently sat on the couch, still obviously excited about her new look.

Steven pulled out his hotdog duffel bag from under the stairs, along with a folded red blanket and a large beach umbrella. Steven shoved the blanket in the bag as well as Spinels new float. He handed the duffel to Spinel, putting the umbrella on the couch before collecting two towels from the bathroom and water bottles from the kitchen. The teen handed the items to Spinel and she shoved them in the bag. He politely took it from Spinel and threw it over his shoulder. Spinel grabbed the umbrella with both hands and tossed it over her shoulder as well.

She paused.

Something was wrong. There was a familiar feeling as she adjusted the umbrella over her bare shoulder. The uneven weight. The way she held it in her hands. It was uneasily familiar. She knew exactly what it was. It felt the same as the rejuvinator. The same weapon she once dared swing at the teen who stood infront her. Pink eyes hesitantly glanced to the pole on her shoulder.

The umbrella was gone and in its place was the rejuvinator. The magenta handle was dark against her pale pink hands that seemed to grip it tighter than what was necessary. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the horrible memory. She just had to keep in mind that the weapon was properly disposed of. There was nothing to worry about.

"That's enough!" Stevens voice didn't come from the teen next to her, it was from the memory flooding back to her, again.

"Naww. What's the matter Steven? Miss your friends already? Well don't worry. You're right behind em!"

She heard her own menacing laughter followed by pained groaning from the hybrid boy. No. NO. SHE DIDN'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT.

The umbrella fell to the wooden floor with a clang. She looked down at her shaking hands and then back up to the teen who now sported a concerned expression.

"I, uh," Spinel was immediately embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry!" She reached down for the umbrella, but before she could grab it, the teen picked it up swiftly.

"It's okay, Spinel. Dont worry about it. I'll carry it if you can grab the bag?" He seemed to have caught on to her little episode rather quickly. He always seemed to know what to say and what to do. He was too kind to her. She wondered what she did to deserve his kindness.

The pink gem just nodded her head and took the bag. Steven threw the umbrella over his shoulder. "Are you okay to go now? Or would you like to wait?"

"I-I still wanna go!" Spinel reacted fast. She didn't want to miss the opportunity to go to the beach with Steven just because of her dumb little episode. She was so tired of them running her life. But it was just so hard sometimes.

"Alright then. Let's go." He held out his free hand, Spinel grabbed it and he lead her out the front door. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a familiar gem leaning on the wooden rails.

"Hey, Garnet!"

"Hello you two. Here." Garnet held out a bottle of sunscreen. "You're going to need this."

"You think so? The sun doesn't seem to be beating down so hard today."

"Oh, I know so." The fusion smirked.

"Heh, right. Thanks Garnet, you're the best." The hybrid took the sunscreen and handed it to Spinel who examined the bottle before tossing it in the bag. He gave the fusion a tight hug and grabbed the pink gems small hand again. "Lets go, Spinel."

Spinel smiled nervously at the fusion and waved goodbye as Steven dragged her off to the nearby water.

"Have fun you two!" She yelled, waving back with a smile. "I'll see you both very soon." She added quietly.

* * *

Once they had found the perfect spot, they laid down the big blanket in the sand. Spinel sat down as Steven set up the umbrella to cover both of them. Soon they both relaxed on the blanket, taking in the scene around them.

There was a light breeze. It was calm and relaxing. The wind brushed their skin. It was nice. Familiar to Steven but foreign to Spinel. She absolutely loved this new feeling.

The water sparkled. The sound of ocean waves filled their ears. Steven could fall asleep to the sound. Spinel was just mesmerized by the entire experience.

So this was some of earth's beautiful features. If earth had more beautiful things like this, she was sure she would come to love earth even more. But she wondered if she had any right to do so.

Spinel laid down on the blanket using her arms to prop her head up. She glanced at the umbrella that was now stuck in the ground. She frowned and slid the glasses down to cover her eyes and took a deep breath. "Hey, Steven?"

The teen looked over at her, giving her his full attention. "Yeah, what's up?"

She closed her eyes, almost not even wanting to ask. "Do you.." The gem hesitated, swallowing hard. "Do you think I deserve this? Should I even be here?"

Steven sat up and looked over at her with a worried expression. He wondered if she put her glasses on to hide her pained expression and tears. Without hesitation, the boy pushed them up and removed them. Her eyes opened, looking back up at him. He could see the tears already building up. She was so fragile. It made Stevens heart break to think that she thought she didn't deserve happiness.

"Spinel... Of course." He put her glasses on the blanket and readjusted himself to face her. "You may have done some bad things but that doesn't mean you haven't changed. That doesn't mean you can't change."

Tears continued to form in her eyes and she sat up trying to wipe them away. "B-but, I tried to destroy your planet. I tried to kill you. I wanted to kill you. And yet you're so nice to me when you should hate me. I just dont get it. I don't- don't deserve your kindness. I don't deserve any of this.

"Spinel, You can't let your past define who you are now as a person." The teen started, wiping one of her tears with a finger. "Plus, a lot of gems have tried to kill me...and the strange but really cool thing about it is that most of those gems have become some of my best friends. I see them all the time. We laugh, hang out and have a good time. Just like we've been doing all day."

The gem wiped the rest of her tears and chuckled lowly. "Well... that sure is pretty backwards."

Steven didn't disagree with her statement. It was pretty backwards that he had befriended most of the gems who tried to kill him. But that's why he wanted to tell her. He wanted to show Spinel that change was possible.

"Just like you, they're really great people. I'd actually like you to meet them sometime soon as long as you're comfortable with it." Spinel actually liked the sound of that. She nodded in response with a small smile.

They became quiet again. Spinel pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin atop. She watched as the waves gently crashed against the shore. It was so beautiful.

Out of the corner of Spinels eye, Steven shifted and then she heard the sound of blowing air. Wind? She looked over and the teen was filling up the donut tube. She almost forgot about that thing. "Oh, are we gonna go swimmin' now?!" She rolled over onto her knees, hands up in excitement.

The teen chuckled, "Only if you want to."

The pink gem only responded by nodding her head energetically.

Steven finished filling up the tube and handed it to the gem before removing his tank top. Behind the pool float, Spinel blushed massively. The boy was now practically indecent and she wondered why he didn't warn her to cover her eyes like last time. She decided to just do what she thought was right and continue to cover her face with the float as they headed down to the water.

It took a few minutes to get Spinel in the water due to her being afraid of the waves coming at them. So every time a wave rolled up the beach, Spinel would run in the opposite direction in an effort to avoid being touched by the water.

Steven thought this was the funniest thing ever. It was difficult to help the poor gem while Steven himself was tearing up with laughter.

Eventually Steven was able to help his friend without the contact with the water itself. The pink gem laid lazily in the tube as Steven swam around her.

"Come on, Spinel. Don't you want to swim in the water? I thought you wanted to see the fish and stuff?"

"I, uh, changed my mind. I'm much more comfortable right where I'm at."

Spinel didn't realize that the ocean was so.. BIG. Now that she was up close and in person, she came to find out that the large body of water could practically swallow her whole. She wasn't quite sure she liked that.

"Suit yourself then." Steven shrugged and dove under the water.

"Wai- Steven?!" She tensed up as her friend disappeared. But she didn't dare move from her spot, hands and feet still hung over the water.

Where was he going? She was all by herself now. She wanted to follow him but just not... down there.

The pink gem wasn't sure how long she would have to wait for him. She wasn't sure how much longer she COULD wait for him.

Panic began to build in her throat. "STEVEN!" She cried out. Immediatly after, something in the water grabbed her hand. The gem shrieked with surprise and all of her limbs retracted from the water.

"Whoa, Spinel, it's okay. It's just me." It was Steven. Exactly who she had called for.

"Wh-Where did you go? Why did you-" She cut herself off, her bare hands now covering her face.

The teen saw her pained expression before she had covered it and he reached out toward the float. "I'm so sorry, Spinel. I only meant to scare you from under the water. I didn't mean to make you upset. It was a bad joke, I'm sorry. I won't do that again, I promise." A hand reached out to Spinel, a pinky extended.

She peeked between her fingers and through her tears at the boy. The gem slowly reached a small hand out to her friend, pinky curled around his. "Pinky promise?" Her voice cracked.

"Pinky promise." He confirmed with a soft smile. "Why don't you let me make it up to you? I know the ocean can be kinda scary, but once you see how pretty it is you'll really like it I think. If it makes you feel better about going under, I can put my bubble around us. That way nothing can touch or hurt us and we can still talk to eachother."

Spinel thought it sounded like a good proposal. The water was scary now, but if Steven was there she was more than willing to at least get a look at the ecosystem from inside a bubble. Finally the gem nodded, a nervous look on her face.

"Heh, alright then. We should probably take the float back to shore then. There aren't many waves but who knows where it'll end up if we just leave it."

The boy swam back to shore, holding onto the float with Spinel still on it. Once they hit sand, the pink gem hopped off the donut and Steven frisbeed it back to the blanket. _Perfect aim!_ All his training with his sheild made things like this a piece of cake. Steven smiled wide at his improvements.

They both turned to the water and a large bubble formed around the two. "Alright, are you ready? Help me roll." Steven took a step forward and Spinel stumbled, a nervous look still painted on her face. Steven had an idea.

Spinel had felt a warm touch to her small hand, gentle and reassuring. She looked down at Stevens hand in her own, his fingers were intertwined with hers. He rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand

Her cheeks went bright pink. He had never ever held her hand like that before. Not with his fingers locked with hers. And he definitely never rubbed her hand like that before. It felt strange and different; and for some reason it made her even more nervous.

"Is this okay?" Steven asked, looking down at the other gem.

She wasn't quite sure how to respond. Should she just let go? Or maybe just say it's okay? Should she tell the truth and tell him that it made her feel nervous and she didn't even know why? _No, thats stupid. He'll think you're an idiot. Don't be DUMB._

Spinel decided on none of them. She only readjusted her hand to hold his without their fingers interlocked. Their hands only cupping eachother. That was more comfortable. It's what she was use to. "This is fine." She averted her gaze from the boy as she spoke, cheeks still hot.

Steven felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

_Great job, Universe. You made her uncomfortable._ If Stevens hands weren't already full, he would have knocked himself right upside his own head. On the bright side, she didnt punch him or shove him away.

The boy swallowed hard before speaking. "Okay, Spinel. Are you ready now?"

She nodded shyly, still a bit nervous about what they might find under the ocean.

"Come on, help me push." The hybrid began walking, pushing on the bubble with his free hand, Spinel did the same.

At first the water was a murky green colour, not much could be seen. Then came the seaweed, they rolled over it with ease. A small gasp could be heard from the pink gem.

The sun rays in the water shined off of the colourful plant life that seemed to surround them. Behind the seaweed seemed like another world to Spinel. A strange but beautiful world. It was amazing.

Soon they started to see tiny fish swimming around. "Steven, look!" She stopped walking and pointed at the fish swimming by. "It's little organics! What are those?"

The teen chuckled lowly, "Those are fish, Spinel. They're what you mainly wanted to see."

"They're so tiny. Smaller than any creature I've ever seen."

"There's big fish too. They can get pretty big. If we keep walking we'll find the bigger ones."

The pair continued walking further in the depths of the ocean. Spinel "oohed" and "aahed" the whole time, her eyes lit up with wonder. They saw many different creatures and Steven patiently explained what each one was. At one point there was even a docile hammerhead shark that swam by. It made Steven a little nervous, but the shark seemed to mind its own business.

Spinel sat down in the bubble, examining some fish that were swimming near by. They stopped to stare back at the gem. She sucked her cheeks in, imitating the fishes lips. Steven chuckled at this and decided to join her.

The pink gem returned to her cheeks to normal and laughed loudly, holding her stomach. "Oh boy, thats too good." She wiped a tear of laughter away as she calmed herself.

"I'm having a great time. I'm glad you convinced me to come down here with you." She sighed and looked around her. "It's crazy. It's like a whole 'nother world down here. I never would have guessed earth had a hidden world beneath the ocean. It just seemed like a dark abyss. Scary and endless."

She wasn't entirely wrong about the scary and endless part. There was much more to the ocean than she knew. But Steven didn't want to ruin the moment with cold hard facts.

"Y'know, there's so much more to earth. Sunrises, sunsets, rain and snow. Oh and-"

Spinel perked up. "Can we go see them now?"

The boy chuckled at this. "Well, those are things we can't just _make_ happen. They happen naturally. We can watch the sunset together tonight though if you want."

The gem didn't know what a sunset was so Steven explained it to her as well as a sunrise, rain and snow. They all sounded very pretty to her. She wanted to see them all right now. Steven then explained why that wasn't possible.

The duo continued to walk around and look at the different sea creatures around them. They even at one point saw an octopus, to which Spinel was mesmerized by the fact that its limbs were so long. Just like her!

Shortly after, the two began to roll themselves back up, closer to the surface. Spinel suddenly stumbled as the bubble came to a halt, catching herself on the pink wall in front of her.

"H-hey, what's wrong?" She turned around to see Steven just standing there, lost in thought.

"Y'know, I still want to swim and I'd like you to swim with me this time." He offered a hand out to her. "Do you trust me?"

Spinel stared down at his hand and swallowed. Her eyes then made contact with Stevens. He gave her a gentle smile, it was begging her to take his hand.

To Stevens pleasure, her hand made contact with his own. But this time her hand felt different in his. She allowed her fingers to slide in between his. He looked down to her, mouth agape. "Spinel..."

She gave him a small, nervous smile as she shrunk into herself. She felt bad after she somewhat rejected Steven from before. His hand didn't make her uncomfortable, it actually was even more tender than normal. She wasn't used to that much tenderness and compassion from someone. She wouldn't allow it. But now that Steven had given it to her, she wanted it and she wanted to trust him.

With her giving him the go ahead, Steven took a deep breath and dissapated his bubble, the water engulfing their bodies. The teen pointed upwards and lead her to the surface. As he swam, he gripped her hand tighter, not wanting to lose her but also becoming desperate for air.

Once the two reached the surface the teen began gasping for air and coughing violently. "HAHH!! OH MY GOSH!" Steven took another few deep breaths.

"Steven, are you okay?!" She still held Stevens hand tight, with the other, she inflated it to look that of a pool float, trying to prevent the boy from drowning. The pink gem then realized that she seemed to float with ease. Steven however was quite the opposite.

Steven held onto Spinels tube shaped hand as he tried to control his breathing. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. I just, maybe should have released my bubble a little closer to the surface. That was.. Dumb of me." He finally chuckled, wiping the water from his eyes.

The noise that came from the teen seemed to ease Spinels worry. The gem snickered, a smile now on her face. "Well, Universe, are you sure you have enough energy to swim with me still?"

"Well, we're kind of swimming right now aren't we?" Steven replied with a smirk, which resulted in a blushing Spinel.

"Y-yeah.. I mean, I guess." She avoided eye contact, gazing out on the water. "But! I want to move around! Like, like how you were swimming around me before."

"Oh okay, yeah. Well maybe we could move more inland and I can teach you how."

"Oh right." Spinel stretched her legs all the way to the ocean floor and slowly walked closer to shore, dragging Steven along in her inflated hand. As she walked she felt several fish graze her bare legs that sent shivers up her metaphorical spine.

Once closer to the shore they realized that they had returned to a place that was a bit farther than where they had set up their beach spot. They were now on the left side of the temple, opposite of the boardwalk. It was expected. They did explore underwater after all.

Steven began to show Spinel some swimming techniques with the basics of doggie paddle and simply kicking her feet.

The pink gem seemed to struggle with grasping the technique of swimming. Her arms and legs moved but Spinel herself didn't seem to move very much.

"Here, why dont we try this?" Steven reached for Spinels hands with his own. "I won't pull you, you have to kick to push me backwards and I'll walk as we go, okay? Now just kick your feet like I showed you before."

Spinel smiled up at the teen and began kicking like before. Steven walked backwords as he was pushed by the force of Spinels kicking.

"There you go, Spinel! Keep kicking!"

There was a warm feeling in her gem as the hybrid praised her. She was amazed by his patience with her. It made her want to try harder and not only with just swimming. He had been patient with her all day. Spinel thought it was incredible that someone like Steven could put up with her. It was amazing that someone like Steven could even exist at all.

"Spinel? Are you okay?" The gem snapped out of her thoughts. They were still moving, Steven stared down at her, slight concern filled his expression.

"Huh? Oh, hah, sorry. I guess I was just... lost in thought." She blushed lightly, averting his eyes as she continued to kick.

"Oh okay, its just you were staring at me pretty intently. So I was just checking to make sure you're okay." That statement had made her blush a little darker. Had she really been staring at him?

Spinel stopped kicking and they both stopped moving. "Steven... I think I wanna try to swim again. Using my arms this time."

"Oh okay, go ahead." The hybrid spoke with a smile, glad to see she was ready for the next step. Spinel on the other hand, was actually very reluctant to let go of Stevens hands. She'd grown very fond of his hands enveloping hers.

His hands... They were warm and soft, filled with compassion and security. She felt safe, she felt adored. She yearned for his touch. It seemed to be the only thing that had ever made her feel... Whole.

However, Spinel thought that maybe she was being a little clingy. So she decided she needed to pull back a bit. _Quit being so dependant. That's why she left you. For being so needy. **It's annoying.**_

Without hesitation, the pink gem pulled her hands from Stevens. She didn't want that. She didn't want him to leave her too. She just needed to control herself. She needed to not get attached. She couldn't get attached to anyone. Not again.

Spinel shook the worrisome thoughts from her head and attempted to swim again. This time she tried a breast stroke instead of the doggie paddle. It seemed to work a lot better than before. She was actually moving!

"Wooo! Go Spinel!" A smile spread across her face as she realised what was happening. She didn't want to stop. So she continued swimming forward and then in circles and eventualy, after several failed attempts, she had even figured out how to swim backwards.

Spinel suddenly felt a burst of exhilaration. She couldnt help but express this feeling out loud. "I did it!!" The gem then sunk her whole body under the water. She screamed out with joy, though it just sounded like a garbled noise.

Pink legs formed a spring and launched the gem out of the water and into the air, her excited giggling filled the area.

Steven watched as Spinel expressed her excitement in a very extraordinary kind of way. He couldnt help but smile wide at the sight. Though, once Steven realized Spinel was about to land right where he was, he ducked, his whole body now under water.

A loud splash could be heard from behind him and Steven opened his eyes under the water and turned around to see a still very happy Spinel. He smiled wide again and lunged at her, enveloping her in a hug. The hybrid stood up straight with the pink gem in his arms, despite the resistance of the water, he spun her around as they laughed together in joy.

It was nice for Spinel to actually learn something through trial and error instead of simply adjusting to it. Pretty much everything she'd ever done was simple for her to figure out. Mainly because most things she had ever done had to do with playing games or entertaining. Swimming didn't exactly fall under either category. It was something completely new for the gem and she was glad to have had the opportunity to learn it.

Steven put the gem down, both were blushing slightly realizing the close contact they just had. The teen wasnt exactly fully clothed and quite frankly neither was Spinel.

She thought about when she had to sheild her eyes when Steven changed his shirt. The gem didn't really understand the difference between then and now. It didnt make sense to her, but she didnt bother questioning it either. All she knew was that it gave her gem that weird feeling again.

It was Spinels voice that broke the silence, "So um, thanks for teachin' me the whole, y'know, swimming thing." She avoided his eyes as he stared down at her.

He smiled wide, "It's no problem at all. I'm happy to help and I'm having a great time."

She couldnt help but smile back. "Me too."

The two swam around for a little longer splashing eachother and playing Marco Polo, which was now Spinels favourite thing to do in the water.

After about five long rounds of the game, Steven commented that he was getting tired. The two raced back to shore and headed towards their original beach location.

Spinel was the first one to make it to their spot. She reached for the bag, pulling out their waters. Something was different. Her eyes scanned the area. Everything seemed to have remained the same... Spinels pink eyes finally darted to an empty spot on the blanket. The heartshaped sunglasses were no where to be seen.

"My glasses are missing! But, but, I left them right here! Steven, they were right here." She gestured at the blanket, obviously upset. She had to look for them. They had to be right here.

The panicked gem dropped the water bottles in the sand, flung the donut float out of her way and began frantically searching for her missing accessory.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. If we can't find them, we can always get you another pair from the shop." Steven suggested, attempting to wipe the sand off of his water bottle.

"No... No, It's not the same. They were the first thing you'd ever given me. They were...the first thing anyone had ever given me." The gem slumped over, tears threatening her eyes.

"Oh, Spinel.." The hybrid approached her carefully, pulling her into an embrace. "It's okay, we'll find them." He wasn't too sure they would actually find them but he wanted atleast to try. For her.

If Spinel wasn't so upset she would have been embarrassed about the sudden hug from the teen. But she just let him hold her while she silently mourned the loss of the only thing she'd ever been given.

Spinel was really messed up and she knew it. She thought about all of her... incidents from today. They weren't anything crazy to Spinel but to Steven wouldn't they have been.. a nuisance? He kept saying it's okay but was it really okay? How did she know he wasn't just putting up with it? Putting up with her? How did she know he wasn't just annoyed by her and just not saying anything? Just like... HER. Would he eventually leave her too? She began to sob just thinking about it. "I- I'm sorry.." She managed to choke out.

Steven wasn't sure why she was apologizing but he just continued to hold the gem as her body drooped in his arms. It was a good thing that Steven was strong because the gem was now barely holding herself up as she fell to pieces in his arms.

"Hey, hey," He whispered, rubbing his hand on the small of her back. She held her breath as he continued to speak. "Don't worry. We'll find them. They've gotta be somewhere. They couldn't have gotten far."

The pink gem slowly pulled back, wiping her tears. "You think so?" She croaked out.

"Of course.. Now come on, I'll help you look for them. If we pack up all of our things they should come up." He gave her a small smile, it was filled with compassion and empathy.

It was so unfamiliar to Spinel. When the pink gem had her little episodes back on homeworld, either the diamonds or pearls would try to help and comfort her, however she was very stubborn and inisisted she be left alone so she could "correct herself". She never let anyone comfort her back at homeworld. As much as she knew she needed it, she knew she didn't deserve it. So she pushed everyone away and secluded herself.

But for some reason it was easy to let Steven hold her and whisper in her ear that everything would be okay. The warmth of his skin on hers. It lingered where he held her. She craved his embrace. But she knew she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve him.

They began packing up their beach spot. Steven first wrapped Spinel in a towel and then himself, since they were still wet from swimming earlier. He proceeded to fold up the blanket, careful not to get sand in their eyes. Spinel collected to rest of their items and handed the boy his water. He took the bottle with a smile and thanked her.

At that moment Steven noticed the frown on the other gems face. He didn't have to ask her to know what was wrong. The pink heartshaped glasses were nowhere to be found.

The teen felt terrible that they werent easily found like he had hoped. "I'm so sorry, Spinel."

She smiled a tight lipped smile, attempting to seem unaffected. But Steven could see the disappointment in her eyes.

"Y'know, the first thing ever given to me was this little stuffed bear." The teen started, gaining the gems attention. "My dad won it from one of those crane machines back at the arcade. At the time I was too young to even talk so my dad had to name him for me. M.C. Bear-Bear." Steven chuckled before continuing. "He was my best friend for a long time. I didn't exactly have any friends while growing up so he was kind of all I had..."

For Steven, it was a little embarrassing to talk about how lonely he had been his whole life, regardless of having the gems and his father. But, Spinel couldn't judge, she understood loneliness more than anyone. Spinel felt empathy towards the teen.

Steven looked down at Spinel, expecting some kind of response. However, the gem was staring at him, patiently waiting for him to continue. This made the boy blush. She was so focused on him and he _may_ have gone off topic a bit.

"Ah.. Anyways, um, after having him for several years I became attached to him. I brought him everywhere I went. We did everything together. But one day, I was careless and I had lost M.C. Bear Bear. I lost my best friend. I was so upset that I didnt stop crying for days."

The thought of Steven crying for days at a time didn't sit well with Spinel. It reminded her of herself. "So...what happened? Did you ever find him?"

"Yeah I did. Well, actually Garnet did. Now that i think about it she probably used her future vision to find him." Steven smiled as he recalled the memory.

"Well that's good that you found him." She gave a small smile, still sad about her own loss.

"Yeah it was. I don't have him anymore though."

"Wha-why not? Did you lose him again?" Spinel questioned.

"No, no. I actually... My friend Lars was in an... accident. A lot of stuff was going on at the time. But I wanted him to feel like he wasn't alone or scared. So I gave M.C. Bear Bear to him as a gift." Steven thought about everything they had gone through during that time.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, that things that are important to you will always be apart of you regardless if they're still around or not. We both cared for the things given to us and we always will. But letting go of those things can promote growth and change."

Spinel looked down, her face sad. She knew that moving on would be something that would come with time. But she just didn't like the thought of having to leave anything behind.

The wind began to pick up and Steven took notice. He looked down and plucked a white feather that was stuck in the sand below them. He held it up between the two as it danced in the wind.

"Just like this feather, you can be weightless. Eventually you'll be able to look forward without anything weighing you down or holding you back. One day, you'll be able to find the courage to let go of what you can't change."

Spinel had a feeling that he wasn't talking about her sunglasses anymore. Her lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears once again.

The teen gave her a tight lipped expression of sadness. He held the feather out to the other gem who immediatly hesitated. Spinels eyes flicked between the feather and the dark eyes that stared her down until she took the feather from his fingers.

"You can let go too. You just need to keep looking forward."

In an instant, the wind snatched the feather from her fingers. They both solemnly watched as it floated away.

Spinel wanted all of her problems to foat away just like the feather. She wanted to let go. But she knew it wouldn't be that easy. She knew she had to work for it. What she didn't know was that Steven wasn't going to let her deal with them alone.

* * *

**A/N - In case anybody's curious about the bathing suit that Spinel liked so much I'll link it below so you can have a better visual. I came across it on spreepicky./com when I was looking for a suit for myself and I immediatly thought it was something that Spinel would wear. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. And I hope this was long enough to make up for that long ass hiatus. And yes there will be more chapters. now that I'm starting to pull myself together for the most part, my free time will start to consist more of writing rather than listening to music and staring at a wall or sleeping. XD Thank you again you guys! See you next time. /products/pink-kawaii-laced-seifuku-swimsuit-sp179930**


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